Nonprofit Content Marketing 2016

Benchmarks, Budgets, and Trends— North America.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

More nonprofit marketers are using content marketing this year (76%) than last year (61%).
▶ In terms of content marketing maturity:
• 26% of nonprofit marketers’ organizations are in the sophisticated/mature phase
• 31% are in the adolescent phase
• 41% are in the young/first steps phase.

▶ 26% of nonprofit marketers say their organizations are effective at content marketing (down from 35% last year); however, effectiveness increases when certain factors are present (i.e., a documented content marketing strategy, frequent content marketing team meetings, and organizational clarity on what content marketing success looks like). The biggest influencer, however, is content marketing maturity level (55% of those in the sophisticated/mature phase say they are effective).

▶ The percentage of nonprofit marketers using each type of content marketing tactic increased over the last year. Infographics had the biggest increase (53% last year vs. 71% this year). In addition, they rated each tactic as more effective than they did last year. The biggest increase was for case studies (42% last year vs. 63% this year).

▶ Social media content (other than blogs), eNewsletters, and in-person events are the tactics that nonprofit marketers use most frequently; however, they say in-person events and illustrations/photos are the most effective.

▶ Of all the social media platforms that nonprofit marketers use to distribute content, use of Instagram increased the most (from 38% to 58%).